Article excerpt

An Oklahoma law would require women having an abortion to fill
out an anonymous questionnaire, the results of which would be made
public. A legal challenge to the law will be decided Feb. 19, a
judge said Friday.

An Oklahoma judge Friday put off until Feb. 19 any decision about
an anti-abortion law that critics have said is "like undressing a
woman in public."

The law, which was to have gone into effect on Nov. 1, requires
doctors performing abortions to ask the patient 37 questions - from
her age to her marital status and financial condition - which would
then be posted on a public website.

Supporters of the bill say the information is crucial to
understanding why women have abortions. Opponents say the questions
are invasive and the public posting of the answers could easily lead
to women being identified in rural parts of the state, even though
their names are not used.

Lora Joyce Davis, one of the women bringing the lawsuit, told
ABC: "It's like undressing women in public, exposing their most
personal issues on the Internet."

Oklahoma's aims

The Oklahoma Legislature is quickly becoming one of the most
stringently antiabortion statehouses in America. Indeed, some
experts suggest it is becoming a laboratory for potential federal
antiabortion law, drawing a comparison between Oklahoma's new laws
and the Nebraska partial-birth abortion ban that was struck down by
the Supreme Court before being made federal law by Congress.

"Expect these Oklahoma laws and the ensuing court decisions to be
the first rather than last word on how far a state may go with
respect to compulsory procedures and reporting requirements," Joseph
Thai, a professor at the University of Oklahoma, told AP.

Many states have abortion-reporting requirements, but abortion
providers in Oklahoma say the new law in their state goes further
than any other, according to NPR. It is only the most recent example
of the Oklahoma Legislature taking a prevalent practice and pushing
it to new levels.

Ultrasound as anti-abortion tool

The Oklahoma courts are also considering a law that would require
all women having an abortion to submit to an ultrasound in which the
doctor would discuss in detail the development of the fetus. …